User blog:Leolab/Ancient User Tourney, Round 12: Hirai Norio (Cfp) v Gaius Leopold (Wandering Skull)
No title cards, because fuck doing that with avs. Hirai Norio: A wandering Ronin versus Gaius Leopold: THe bastard son of a king Hirai Norio (Cfp) Bio Known as the Wandering Ronin, Hirai Norio is a masterless samurai roaming the countryside of Japan. Trained from birth as a fearless and just warrior, Hirai faithfully served his master for a decade. After his master was killed during one of many feuds between samurai clans, Hirai was forced to exile as a ronin. The origins of the feud has escaped Hirai's memory, but he does know he refuses the fall to the base levels of his fellow ronin. When Hirai's master and his clan were under siege, Hirai became the master's personal bodyguard. As the advancing army slowly moved further into the sanctuary, Hirai and his master were cornered in temple. Although heavily outnumbered, Hirai's swordsmanship granted enough time for reinforcements to arrive and route the attackers. That night, ninjas stealthily entered the dojo where Hirai and his charge were entrenched. With a swift cut, the master was killed before Hirai could protect him. Without a master, Hirai was ashamed- left abandoned by his samurai comrades. Just before he could commit seppuku in isolation, he witnessed a robbing by fellow ronin. Unwilling to just stand by and let them take an innocent's life, Hirai took his sword and defended the peasant. Realizing his new calling, Hirai choose to live not in disgrace or die by his own sword, but use his masterless status to protect those that could not protect themselves. He had become The Wandering Ronin- a hero to some and a bane to others. Initial Weaponset (Short Range) The Exiled's Companion- Hirai's iconic katana blade. With a tamagahane single-edged tempered curved blade approximately 2 and a half feet, weighing 2 and a half pounds, the Exiled's Companion has a circular hilt guard. The hilt itself is a traditional wood, but is wrapped in leather rather than the typical cloth to ensure a better grip. Hirai's fighting style with this blade relies on swift, short cuts rather than larger sweeping arcs typical of those with his training. Other Weapons & Armor |-| Mid Range = Kanabo- A 4-feet, 15 pound oak club with steel studs. |-| Long Range = Broken Oath- Hirai's yumi bow, with simple steel arrows. Hirai, as is custom with samurai, is competently skilled with his bow |-| Special = The Twins- Dual short wakizashi blades Hirai utilizes to allow him to pressure his opppnents wielding pole arms by utilizing his left sword to deflect attacks and his right sword to close the distance. The blades are typical wakizashi blades; One and a half feet steel single-edged blades. |-| Armor = Dō-maru armor set- A set of steel and leather armor. The chestpiece consists of scales of steel, laced together into plates then lacquered. These plates are then laced together to form a solid steel cuirass over Hirai's vital organs. Due to the weight of the steel (10 lbs), the rest of Hirai's armor is simple thigh and shoulder guards of leather. Gaius "The Salt Eagle" Leopold (Skully) Bio Born as the bastard son of a King Marcus Leopold and one of his servants, ruler of the Kingdom Of Illiyac, Gaius inherited the surname of all bastards in these lands, that name being Salts. As a child, Gaius was left to his own devices around the castle and often spent his days trying to earn his father's graces by studying, training in combat and understanding the functions of court. This continued until he was 10 years old, where the young Gaius would give up upon the dreams of being legitimized. Upon giving up, Gaius took to combat training, spending his time at the docks and adventuring with the garrisons of the city. As he grew older, Gaius would often take his anger on others in drunken bar fights, training and generally having alot of anger. He'd also spend days with his half-brother, Magnus, as both trained alongside each other and confided their personal motivations. Gaius and Magnus would often take these sparring sessions as methods to improve the others skill in combat. It is also during this time that Gaius expressed genuine interest with mercenary work and exploring the world, which Magnus often encouraged in hopes that Gaius would find some kind of joy in a land beyond his. And at the age of 16, Gaius would indulge upon these fantasies and signed up with a band mercenaries loyal to his father and the crown as they set sail to serve him in attacking his foes and obtaining wealth and glory for the kingdom. And so for the next few years, Gaius would work as mercenary, garnering a reputation and gathering enough coin to obtain his own ship and crew at the age of 25. He would continue to serve his kingdom as a mercenary, but also worked on the side as him as his crew attacked and raided the coastal towns of the kingdom's enemies. This is where he'd gain his title of "The Salt Eagle" for the banner he flew containing the old emblem of his Kingdom, with the eagle perched upon the salt rock. During one of these raids against garrisons of a rival kingdom, Gaius slew their champion, but losing his eye in the process due to his own arrogance, an event that would humble him greatly. Still, as the years passed, his reputation, wealth and experience allowed him to amass a large fleet. One that would rival that of a small kingdom as he began dabbling in trade. His ultimate test would come as the Kingdom Of Illiyac was invaded, rival kingdoms growing tired of the privateers and mercenaries sent to attack their lands, their coasts and soldiers. Gaius set his sails once more and with his fleet seeked to destroy the menace that threatened his homeland. He would prove instrumental as he organized the naval fleets of his kingdom, organized ground forces and fought alongside Magnus, now King, in attempt to drive back the invaders. The final blow would come in a massive naval battle as his fleet of pirates, mercenaries and vikings boarded dozens of ships and captured and destroyed in name of his homeland. And upon securing the security of his homeland, Gaius would kneel before his brother and for his service, loyalty and dedication to his lands was legitimized as Gaius "The Salt Eagle" Leopold. Initial Weaponset (Special) Salt- Gaius' personal weapon that never leaves his side, Salt, is a sword of his own making and design and forged during his career. Salt is a bastard sword, making it roughly 48 inches long, the material being something similar to Damascus Steel as in was made centuries ago in real life as high quality method of making swords, and with a weight of 8 pounds. Can be held with one hand, but preferred with two hands. Other Weapons & Armor |-| Short Range = War Axe & Viking Shield- The axe is shortened and with weight reduced in order to be held with one hand to work in conjunction with his shield, while having a small spike on the other side, think 13th century German war axe, but without holes in the axe head. The shield is the typical Viking shield with a spiked steel boss in the center for use as a defensive and offensive tool. The combination is roughly 16 pounds, |-| Mid Range = Halberd- The entirely of the spear is roughly six feet tall with its blade at the top of the weapon. The weapon is a classic using the spike, axe head and spear head for a variety of tasks that the weapon is required for. Weighs around around 7lbs and the axe head is made of steel |-| Long Range = Composite Bow- Think your typical Mongol Composite Bow with the weapon weighing roughly 2.5 pounds. Carrying around 20 arrows in his quiver, consisting of broad head arrows made with steel material arrow heads. The arrows heads also have small 'claws' to them making the ripping out process all the more painful. |-| Armor = Steel Armor (Chest Piece & Gauntlets & Boots)- If you want a basic idea of appearance the Steel Plate Armor in Skyrim should give you a good idea. As mentioned the armor is steel plates meant to offer strong protection from attacks, preferring to only wear the chest piece and gauntlets and boots to avoid having too much weight. Wears a black gambeson underneath the armor for a bit of added protection. The combination is roughly 45 pounds combined. Notes Battle Notes *Arena is a 20m diameter circle, grassy soil footing, no cover *All warriors will start out with their Initial Weaponset equipped, along with their armor. **Their other weapons are placed sheathed/unloaded/unset/etc. next to their point of entry into the arena. *The match is to the death. *Brackets and other tourney information may be found here. **Note that vote scores are doubled, since Challnonge doesn't accept half-points. *'Note that the pictures are' not meant to be exact representations of the equipment. They're just generic images I found on the wiki. Voting Notes *Votes with good edges or at least 10 relevant sentences count as a full vote *Votes with meh edges or at least 5 relevant sentences count as a half vote *All others count as no vote *Well-reasoned rebuttals can lower the count of a vote by half. *Well-reasoned counter-rebuttals can restore the half-point. *The users whose characters are fighting may not vote for or against themselves, but may defend their warriors by giving rebuttals and counter-rebuttals *I have the final say in how much a vote counts for. If I feel a vote merits counting differently than these guidelines, I will do so. *Due to voter concerns regarding his rebuttal spree on a previous match, El Alamein is only allowed to defend his own vote. *Voting ends at some point on 08/16/2016 Battle Hirai Norio and Gaius Leopold step out into the grassy arena, and look around in confusion. The field was nothing like their memories from a few minutes ago; the grass was dry and brown, the soil parched and cracked. No one was sitting in the stands to cheer; the entire arena was devoid of life other than the red-robed man that had served as the host for their previous matches. “The rest of the matches were cancelled,” he says, “But this one was not. I’ll save the introductions. Ready…” As if the response were natural, the two towering figures draw their weapons, preparing to enter combat. There was but one thing to do in this arena, be it a crowd watching or a single man. “Fight!” The two men charged, and Norio strikes first. A swift cut to Gaius’ blind side is halted in its tracks by a steel gauntlet, and Norio disengages just in time to dodge a riposte from Salt. Gaius narrows his right eye and watches his opponent carefully. As Norio slips into the darkness on his left side, he swings his blade in an arc. He catches the katana aiming at his legs, and sweeps out to try and kick his foe in the shins. Norio retreated again, warier this time. He’d known his opponent was no fool, but now he was seeing how capable he was firsthand. Norio brings his katana up again to block a strike from Gaius, halting his foe’s steel. The two masters of their craft clashed furiously, the din of ringing steel filling the small space. Norio swung again, making a quick cut towards his foe’s right leg. Gaius parried and riposted, as he’d expected, but he noticed a slight change from when he attacked the left and blind side. Testing his theory, he attacked in a staccato rhythm, probing Gaius’ defenses. Satisfied, Norio once more slid into Gaius’ blind spot. Gaius again swung his sword to parry a blow aimed at his leg, but recoiled when the strike parried earlier than he had thought. Norio’s blade slides and makes a shallow cut on the inside of Gaius’ right shin. Wincing in pain, Gaius retreats. Norio seizes the advantage, and starts to press Gaius back. He rains down blows on Gaius’ right side, taking advantage of a mild paradox – Gaius could see on his right, but he was slower defending. His foe did not take the bait of his missing eye, making his prior instinctive, fluid movements more sluggish. Norio batters Gaius’ blade aside, taking advantage of his frame and speed to knock it out of his hands. Gaius leaps back to make distance, as Norio launches into a stab. Realizing his foe will come up short, he takes a second to scoop up his axe and shield from where they lay in the grass. Norio lets go of his katana with one hand and extends further, turning the blade flat. Gaius parries the blow with his shield and rises, keeping the katana on the shield as he swings his axe in an arc, biting through Norio’s jugular. The Ronin topples to the floor, his blood soaking into the earth. The impassive man in the red robe gestures, and the two bodies vanish from the arena. Category:Blog posts